System and method for receiving real-time consumer transactional feedback

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and storage media for operating a wireless device are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may: select a consumer to provide feedback related to one or more transactions associated with the consumer; transmit, for display on a wireless device of the consumer, a survey comprising one or more questions related to the one or more transactions associated with the consumer; select an incentive offer from an incentive offer database; transmit, for display on the wireless device of the consumer, information related to the incentive offer; receive one or more responses to the survey; and fulfil the incentive offer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/559,291, filed Sep. 3, 2019 and titled “System and Method forReceiving Real-Time Consumer Transactional Feedback”, which claimspriority to both 1) U.S. Provisional patent Application No. 62/861,921,filed Jun. 14, 2019 and titled “System and Method for ReceivingReal-Time Consumer Transactional Feedback”, and 2) U.S. Provisionalpatent Application No. 62/870,558, filed Jul. 3, 2019 and titled “Systemand Method for Receiving Real-Time Consumer Transactional Feedback”. Thecontents of the above-referenced applications are incorporated byreference herein in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to technological improvements in thefields of electronic collection and analytics of customer satisfactiondata. More specifically, the disclosure describes systems and methodsfor improving response rates and quality of responses to consumersurveys, in particular by incentivizing rapid responses via a consumer'smobile device.

BACKGROUND

Many online and brick-and-mortar merchants, retailers, and serviceproviders rely on consumer feedback in order to help them make businessdecisions. For example, a merchant may seek information about whichproducts are popular with the consumer and which are not, and why. Aretailer or service provider may be able to improve customer serviceperceptions in a dramatic way by spotting recurring problems orcomplaints in customer surveys. Some retailers may be interested inunderstanding similarities and differences in expectations andexperiences between a consumer's experiences in a physical store versusin an online transaction. Such feedback, when gathered accurately andquickly, can help a business run more efficiently and profitably.

Conventional methods of surveying customers and collecting customerfeedback do not provide high-quality information for a variety ofreasons. For example, retailers often request customer feedback at theregister or via a paper store receipt. In-person requests for feedbacktend to discourage criticism and candid suggestions for improvement,while surveys tied to paper store receipts are usually inconvenient tothe consumer because they require the consumer to save the receipt andaccess it later, often to manually log into a web site and/or enter acode number. Many consumers simply do not notice such a request toprovide feedback, even when an incentive such as free merchandise or acontest entry is offered.

In many cases, traditional feedback collection methods are overlyburdensome to the consumer, resulting in poor, inaccurate or no feedbackto the merchant because the process requires several different types ofplatforms and media—including paper receipts, websites maintained bythird-party data aggregators or otherwise separate from the merchant'sprimary website, unique login or QR codes, etc. Traditional processestypically also require a significant time investment for which thetypical consumer is not adequately incentivized to participate. Further,where incentives are offered in traditional processes, there istypically a lack of immediacy in delivery of the reward—a consumer oftenhas to wait for a separate department or entity to contact them by mail,telephone, or email with still further instructions about how to collecta voucher, coupon, or other reward.

Consumers who do find and respond to traditional survey requests areoften not representative of the public or the particular business'scustomer base, often skewing toward disgruntled customers or those whoare much more likely, for one reason or another, to read a storereceipt. When feedback is given, the business often receives theinformation long after the purchase, reducing the reliability andinsightfulness of the feedback data.

SUMMARY

In general, the present disclosure provides systems and methods forimproving response rates and quality of responses to consumer surveys.One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system configured toselect customer feedback questions and associated incentives. The systemmay include one or more hardware processors configured bymachine-readable instructions. The processor(s) may be configured toselect a consumer to provide feedback related to one or moretransactions associated with the consumer. The processor(s) may beconfigured to transmit, for display on a wireless device of theconsumer, a survey including one or more questions related to the one ormore transactions associated with the consumer. The processor(s) may beconfigured to select an incentive offer from an incentive offerdatabase. The processor(s) may be configured to transmit, for display onthe wireless device of the consumer, information related to theincentive offer. The processor(s) may be configured to receive one ormore responses to the survey. The processor(s) may be further configuredto fulfil the incentive offer.

In some implementations of the system, the selection of the incentiveoffer may depend at least in part on a geographical location of themobile device. In some implementations of the system, the selection ofthe incentive offer may depend at least in part on an identity of amerchant associated with the one or more transactions associated withthe consumer. In some implementations of the system, the processor(s)may be configured to transmit, for display on a wireless device of aconsumer, a notification that a survey is available to the consumer.Such notification may typically be accomplished by a push notificationto an electronic device, by a text message or email, or by anothersuitable method of electronic notification. In some implementations ofthe system, the selection of the consumer may depend at least in part ondemographic information or psychographic information associated with theconsumer, or on information associated with one or more lifestyleclassifications or taxonomies.

In some implementations of the system, the selection of the consumer maydepend at least in part on a consumer profile. In some implementationsof the system, the consumer profile may be associated with surveypreferences defined by a merchant. In some implementations of thesystem, the incentive offer may be associated with the merchant. Invarious implementations and throughout this disclosure, the terms“merchant,” “retailer,” or “service provider” are intended to beexpansive and may refer to, as only a few non-limiting examples, asingle physical or electronic point of sale, a franchise or chain ofpoints of sale, a group of merchants or points of sale that are somehowrelated to one another by one or more commonalities such as commonownership, geographical proximity, business partnership, etc.

Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method foroperating a wireless device. The method may include selecting a consumerto provide feedback related to one or more transactions associated withthe consumer. The method may include transmitting, for display on awireless device of the consumer, a survey including one or morequestions related to the one or more transactions associated with theconsumer. The method may include selecting an incentive offer from anincentive offer database. The method may include transmitting, fordisplay on the wireless device of the consumer, information related tothe incentive offer. The method may include receiving one or moreresponses to the survey. The method may include fulfilling the incentiveoffer.

Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a non-transientcomputer-readable storage medium having instructions embodied thereon,the instructions being executable by one or more processors to perform amethod for operating a wireless device. The method may include selectinga consumer to provide feedback related to one or more transactionsassociated with the consumer. The method may include transmitting, fordisplay on a wireless device of the consumer, a survey including one ormore questions related to the one or more transactions associated withthe consumer. The method may include selecting an incentive offer froman incentive offer database. The method may include transmitting, fordisplay on the wireless device of the consumer, information related tothe incentive offer. The method may include receiving one or moreresponses to the survey. The method may include fulfilling the incentiveoffer.

Other technical features may be readily apparent to one skilled in theart from the following figures, descriptions, and claims. These andother features, and characteristics of the present technology, as wellas the methods of operation and functions of the related elements ofstructure and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture,will become more apparent upon consideration of the followingdescription and the appended claims with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, all of which form a part of this specification, wherein likereference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures.It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for thepurpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as adefinition of the limits of the invention. As used in the specificationand in the claims, the singular form of ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’ includeplural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may beadvantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases usedthroughout this patent document. The term “couple” and its derivativesrefer to any direct or indirect communication between two or moreelements, whether or not those elements are in physical contact with oneanother. The terms “transmit,” “receive,” and “communicate,” as well asderivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication.The terms “include” and “comprise,” as well as derivatives thereof, meaninclusion without limitation. The term “or” is inclusive, meaningand/or. The phrase “associated with,” as well as derivatives thereof,means to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, becontained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicablewith, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be boundto or with, have, have a property of, have a relationship to or with, orthe like. The term “controller” means any device, system or part thereofthat controls at least one operation. Such a controller may beimplemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and/orfirmware. The functionality associated with any particular controllermay be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. Thephrase “at least one of,” when used with a list of items, means thatdifferent combinations of one or more of the listed items may be used,and only one item in the list may be needed. For example, “at least oneof: A, B, and C” includes any of the following combinations: A, B, C, Aand B, A and C, B and C, and A and B and C.

Moreover, various functions described below can be implemented orsupported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed fromcomputer readable program code and embodied in a computer readablemedium. The terms “application” and “program” refer to one or morecomputer programs, software components, sets of instructions,procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or aportion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computerreadable program code. The phrase “computer readable program code”includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code,and executable code. The phrase “computer readable medium” includes anytype of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as readonly memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, acompact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), solid state drives(SSDs), flash, or any other type of memory. A “non-transitory” computerreadable medium excludes wired, wireless, optical, or othercommunication links that transport transitory electrical or othersignals. A non-transitory computer readable medium includes media wheredata can be permanently stored and media where data can be stored andlater overwritten, such as a rewritable optical disc or an erasablememory device.

Definitions for other certain words and phrases are provided throughoutthis patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art shouldunderstand that in many if not most instances, such definitions apply toprior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of this disclosure and its advantages,reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level component diagram of an illustrativesystem architecture, according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates details of an example consumer profile according tovarious embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates details of an example incentive selection moduleaccording to various embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a partial list of available merchant incentivepreferences according to various embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates example consumer device applications screensaccording to some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example display of an incentive reward appearingin a digital wallet interface according to some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example display of an electronically generatedsocial media post according to some embodiments.

FIG. 8 represents a flowchart for a method of receiving real-timeconsumer transactional feedback according to some embodiments of thisdisclosure.

FIG. 9 represents a flowchart of another method of receiving real-timeconsumer transactional feedback according to some embodiments of thisdisclosure.

FIG. 10 represents a flowchart of a method for delivering an incentiveto a digital wallet and allowing a consumer to gift an incentive offerto a third party, according to various embodiments of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Improvement is desired in the quantity, quality, and timeliness ofconsumer satisfaction data. By leveraging modern technological hardwareto incentivize prompt responses to customer satisfaction surveys,merchants, retailers, and service providers can maximize theirefficiency and profits. Conventional methods of surveying customers andcollecting customer feedback do not provide high-quality information fora variety of reasons. For example, retailers often request customerfeedback at the register or via a paper store receipt. In-personrequests for feedback tend to discourage criticism and candidsuggestions for improvement, while surveys tied to paper store receiptsare usually inconvenient to the consumer because they require theconsumer to save the receipt and access it later, often to manually loginto a web site and/or enter a code number. Many consumers simply do notnotice such a request to provide feedback, even when an incentive suchas free merchandise or a contest entry is offered. Consumers who do findand respond to such survey requests are often not representative of thepublic or the particular business's customer base, often skewing towarddisgruntled customers or those who are much more likely, for one reasonor another, to read a store receipt. When feedback is given, thebusiness often receives the information long after the purchase,reducing the reliability and insightfulness of the feedback data.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to embodiments that overcomethe shortcomings described above. The present disclosure relates tosystems and methods for incentivizing and receiving real-time,near-time, or batch consumer transactional feedback. In addition toproviding systems and methods for incentivizing consumer surveyparticipation and collecting more data and more reliable consumerfeedback data promptly, the present disclosure describes evaluating thesalience of transaction data, consumer data, and feedback and surveydata. With respect to evaluating various types of data and profiles asdescribed in further detail herein, the systems and methods may includeconsideration of weighted averages, nonparametric ranking methods,Bayesian analyses, Markovian processes and analyses, and other types andmethods of statistical and data analysis, as appropriate. In general,references to “data” and related concepts in this disclosure should beunderstood to refer to plain text data, encrypted or hashed data, datastored or transmitted by any other technologically feasible format notspecifically named here, or any combination of formats thereof.

Modern artificial intelligence and machine learning bring exciting newtechnical, operational and heuristic insights and possibilities to thefields of discussion. It should also be understood that, as part of theportions of this disclosure related to data collection and analysis(e.g. collecting consumer feedback, building profiles of actual ordesired consumers, identifying purchasing trends, etc.) that variousartificial intelligence and/or machine learning principles, as would beapparent to one having ordinary skill in those fields, may be applied todetermine the methods of and/or enhance the data analysis and/or uncoveradditional insights. As one example, machine learning may be employed todiscern the likelihood of a particular incentive offer resulting in aspecific consumer or type of consumer participating in giving feedbackabout a transaction. Such a determination may be made using a variety ofinput factors, such as the past behavior of a specific consumer and/orconsumers sharing particular characteristics, including derived orinferred characteristics. In some embodiments, various parameters may,in general, be ranked according to an expected likelihood ofcompatibility. For example, all available incentives could be ranked forlikelihood of effectiveness at the time of a transaction based onnumerous factors including but not limited to demographic andpsychographic characteristics of the consumer, geographical location ofthe point of sale, time of day, type of goods or services involved inthe transaction, etc.

FIGS. 1 through 10, discussed below, and the various embodiments used todescribe the principles of this disclosure are by way of illustrationonly and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of thedisclosure.

The example architecture 100 includes a network 120 that communicativelycouples various devices, including the consumer feedback incentivizingservice 102, user device 128, merchant computing system 122, andconsumer digital wallet 132. The network 120 can include local areanetworks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs). The network 102 caninclude wired technologies (e.g., Ethernet®) and wireless technologies(e.g., Wi-Fi®, code division multiple access (CDMA), near-fieldcommunication (“NFC”), global system for mobile (GSM), universal mobiletelephone service (UMTS), Bluetooth®, and ZigBee®. For example, the userdevice 104 can use a wired connection or a wireless technology (e.g.,Wi-Fi®) to transmit and receive data over the network 120.

In various implementations, all or a portion of the data may beprimarily stored or backed up in a distributed ledger system such as,without limitation, blockchain. For example, consumer feedback data maybe stored in a distributed ledger system for purposes of maintaining andimproving the integrity of the data, which is collected from numerous,disparate devices and sources. Use of a distributed ledger may alsoenable easier sharing of relevant data across disparate platforms andorganizations. A distributed ledger may, in some embodiments, be used toenable and track incentive availability, incentive reward histories,consumer profiles, etc. as further described herein. A distributedledger may, in some embodiments, be used to enable certain data to beaccessed only by authorized parties.

In an exemplary operation, consumer feedback incentivizing service 102may be configured to select a consumer to provide feedback related toone or more transactions associated with the consumer. Consumer feedbackincentivizing service 102 may then select a survey comprising one ormore questions related to the one or more transactions associated withthe consumer. For example, consumer feedback incentivizing service 102may communicate information about the selected consumer and/ortransaction(s) to survey generation module 114. In some embodiments, theinformation communicated to survey generation module 114 about theconsumer may include all or part of a stored consumer profile 118.According to some embodiments, survey generation module 114 may thenmatch the consumer or characteristics of the consumer with one or moresurveys stored in database 116 of survey generation module 114 andtransmit the one or more selected surveys back to consumer feedbackincentivizing service 102.

According to some embodiments, consumer feedback incentivizing service102 may transmit, for display on a wireless device of the consumer, theone or more selected surveys related to the one or more transactionsassociated with the consumer. According to some embodiments, consumerfeedback incentivizing service 102 transmits one or more surveys to userdevice 128 for display, via client application 130 showing on a userinterface (e.g., a touch screen or other standard computing interface)of user device 128.

User device 128 may be any suitable computing device, such as asmartphone, tablet, or desktop or laptop computer. User device 128 maybe include a user interface configured to execute a client application130. Client application 130 may be implemented in computer instructionsstored on one or more memory devices and executed by one or moreprocessing devices of the user device 128. Client application 130 may bea standalone application installed on user device 128 or may be anapplication that is executed by another application, such as a websitein a web browser.

Consumer feedback incentivizing service 102, according to someembodiments, may include a computing device 104 having one or moreprocessors 106 for executing the tasks of consumer feedbackincentivizing service 102 and a computing device database 108. Computingdevice 104 may be any suitable computing device such as a computerserver, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or desktop or laptop computer. Theone or more processors 106 may be configured to execute computerinstructions stored on computing device 104 or elsewhere in consumerfeedback incentivizing service 102. Database 108 of computing device 104may store any data necessary to enable the operation of consumerfeedback incentivizing service 102. For example, database 108 mayinclude consumer profiles including information associated with consumerprofile 118, incentive selection module 110, and/or survey generationmodule 114.

According to some embodiments, consumer feedback incentivizing service102 may transmit, to incentive selection module 110, information relatedto the consumer and/or the one or more transactions. According to someembodiments, incentive selection module 110 may then match the consumeror characteristics of the consumer with one or more incentives stored indatabase 112 of incentive selection module 110 and transmit informationabout the selected one or more incentives back to consumer feedbackincentivizing service 102. Examples of incentives that may be availableinclude the granting of retailer discounts on future purchases, contestentries, free goods or services redeemable at a particular merchant orfranchise, reward program points, or any other suitable incentive rewardas may be appropriate to the consumers and businesses involved.

Consumer feedback incentivizing service 102 may transmit, for display ona wireless device of the consumer, the one or more incentives selectedby incentive selection module 110. According to some embodiments,consumer feedback incentivizing service 102 transmits informationrelated to one or more incentives to user device 128 for display, via aclient application 130 showing on a user interface of user device 128.

According to some embodiments, the consumer or other user of user device128 may input a response to the one or more surveys at the userinterface of user device 128. These responses may then be transmitted,via network 120, back to consumer feedback incentivizing service 102.

In response to receiving appropriate survey responses, according to someembodiments, consumer feedback incentivizing service 102 may fulfil theincentive offer. For example, according to some embodiments, consumerfeedback incentivizing service may fulfil the incentive offer at leastin part by communicating a coupon or voucher to the consumer via userdevice 128 or other contact information as may be available, for exampleas part of consumer profile 118. In some embodiments, consumer feedbackincentivizing service 102 may fulfil the incentive offer at least inpart by adding an incentive benefit to a digital wallet 132 associatedwith the consumer. For example, consumer feedback incentivizing servicemay add an incentive reward of a free bagel at a local shop directlyinto the consumer's digital wallet. Digital wallet 132 according to someembodiments may be Apple Pay™, Google Pay™, Samsung Pay™, or any othersuitable digital wallet or digital transaction facilitation application.

According to some embodiments, some or all of consumer feedbackincentivizing service 102 may be in communication one or more merchantcomputing systems 122. For example, a merchant, retailer, or other goodsor service provider may establish one or more desired consumer profiles124 stored in a database 126 of merchant computing system 122. Thedesired consumer profile(s) may define characteristics of consumers thatthe merchant would like survey answers from. According to someembodiments, merchant computing system 122 may also provide surveypreferences and/or survey questions provided by the merchant to consumerfeedback incentivizing service 102 and/or survey generation module 114.According to some embodiments, merchant computing system 122 may alsoprovide incentive preferences and/or information about availableincentives to consumer feedback incentivizing service 102 and/orincentive selection module 110.

Merchant computing system 122 according to some embodiments may be anysuitable computing devices such as a computer server, laptop, tablet,smartphone, or desktop or laptop computer. Database 126 of merchantcomputing system 122 may store any data necessary to enable theoperation of merchant computing system 122.

FIG. 2 illustrates details of an example consumer profile according tovarious embodiments. Consumer profile 202 according to some embodimentsrepresents an individual consumer or consumer group. According to someembodiments, a consumer profile 118 of FIG. 1 may be arranged similar toor contain information similar to that described herein with respect toconsumer profile 202 of FIG. 2. A desired consumer profile 124,according to some embodiments, may be arranged similar to or containinformation similar to that described here with respect to consumerprofile 202 of FIG. 2.

Consumer demographic data 204 of consumer profile 202 may include,according to some embodiments, demographic data associated with one ormore consumers, such as age, gender, race, occupation, income, hobbies,location of residence, eating habits, and other suitable demographicinformation. Consumer demographic data 204 and other information ofconsumer profile 202 may be ultimately intended to provide a high levelof granularity to a merchant when considering who is buying or may belikely to buy particular goods or services.

Consumer geographic location data 206 of consumer profile 202 mayinclude, according to some embodiments, geographical locationinformation such as Global Positioning System (“GPS”) or other suitablelocation information location related to a user's residence, workplace,common vacation or work travel locations, favorite restaurants, etc.Consumer geographic location data 206 may also include actual locationhistory of an individual consumer or group of consumers. According tosome embodiments, consumer geographic location data 206 may includeprojections of likely future location information. Any locationinformation of consumer geographic location data 206, according to someembodiments, may be stored with corresponding data and time stampinformation.

Consumer survey response history 208 of consumer profile 202 includes,according to some embodiments, information related to whether, when, andhow often one or more consumers associated with consumer profile 202—orpeople sharing certain actual, predictable or derivable characteristicswith those one or more consumers—have responded to previous surveyquestions presented to the one or more consumers associated withconsumer profile 202. Such analysis may, in some embodiments, be aidedby the use of various artificial intelligence or machine learningtechniques, as appropriate. According to some embodiments, consumersurvey response history 208 may include information related to the typesof survey questions the one or more consumers associated with consumerprofile 202 have responded to in the past, and/or projectedcharacteristics of survey questions the one or more consumers associatedwith consumer profile 202 may be likely to respond to in the future. Insome embodiments, a consumer profile 202 may include projectedcharacteristics of consumers who are likely to respond to the surveyquestions that are available or expected to be available, or for whichanswers and feedback are desired.

Consumer spending habit data 210 of consumer profile 202 includes,according to some embodiments, information related to past purchasesmade by the one or more consumers associated with consumer profile 202.According to some embodiments, consumer spending habit data 210 ofconsumer profile 202 may further include projections related to likelyfuture spending habits of the one or more consumers associated withconsumer profile 202. According to some embodiments, information ofconsumer spending habit data may include purchase amounts and frequencyof various types of purchases, and other appropriate consumer spendinghabit data as one having ordinary skill in the art would recognize.

Incentive preference data 212 and consumer incentive history 214 ofconsumer profile 202 include, according to some embodiments, informationrelated to whether, when, and how often one or more consumers associatedwith consumer profile 202 have responded to previous incentives offered(consumer incentive history 214) in exchange for completing surveys.According to some embodiments, incentive preference data 212 may includeinformation related to the types of incentives the one or more consumersassociated with consumer profile 202 have responded to in the pastand/or projected characteristics of incentives the one or more consumersassociated with consumer profile 202 may be likely to respond to in thefuture.

Consumer digital wallet identifier(s) 216, according to someembodiments, include any suitable digital wallet or digital transactionfacilitation platforms associated with one or more consumers associatedwith consumer profile 202.

FIG. 3 illustrates details of an example incentive selection moduleaccording to various embodiments. Incentive selection module 110 of FIG.1 may, in some embodiments, be arranged similar to or containinformation similar to that described herein with respect to incentiveselection module 302. Incentive selection module may be configured,inter alia, to combine known characteristics of a selected consumer orgroup of consumers with a merchant's preference data and availableincentives in order to select the best incentive match when taking intoaccount various factors such as likelihood of response and how closelythe targeted or selected consumer (also referred to herein as the“immediate consumer”) matches the merchant's preference.

Consumer incentive preference data 304, according to some embodiments,may include information related to the types of incentives the immediateconsumer or group of consumers has responded to in the past and/orprojected characteristics of incentives the immediate consumer or groupof consumers may be likely to respond to in the future.

Merchant preference data 306, according to some embodiments, may includeany information provided by a merchant or merchants about a desiredconsumer that the merchant or merchants would like to have surveyfeedback data from. Merchant preference data, according to someembodiments, may be input via a merchant interface and survey resultsmay be provided to the merchant through the same interface or anotherinterface. According to some embodiments, merchant preference data mayinclude some or all of the information of a desired consumer profile,which may be similar to a consumer profile 202 as discussed with respectto FIG. 2.

Consumer survey response history 308 includes, according to someembodiments, information related to whether, when, and how often one ormore consumers have responded to previous survey questions presented tothe immediate consumer or group of consumers. According to someembodiments, consumer survey response history 308 may includeinformation related to the types of survey questions the consumer orgroup of consumers has responded to in the past, and/or projectedcharacteristics of survey questions the consumer or group of consumersmay be likely to respond to in the future.

Consumer spending habit data 310 includes, according to someembodiments, information related to past purchases made by the immediateconsumer or group of consumers. According to some embodiments, consumerspending habit data 310 may further include projections related tolikely future spending habits of the immediate consumer or group ofconsumers. According to some embodiments, information of consumerspending habit data may include purchase amounts and frequency ofvarious types of purchases, and other appropriate consumer spendinghabit data as one having ordinary skill in the art would recognize.

Incentive database 312, according to some embodiments, may be populatedwith incentives provided by merchants and available immediately, at anytime in the future, and/or at other franchise locations or retailers—forexample, a free drink or free donut at a local donut shop. According tosome embodiments, incentive database 312 may also or alternativelyinclude incentives generated by consumer feedback incentivizing service102 or other appropriate sources.

FIG. 4 illustrates a partial list of available merchant incentivepreferences according to various embodiments. Merchant incentivepreferences 402 according to some embodiments represent an individualmerchant, retailer, or service provider or a group of merchants,retailers, or service providers. According to some embodiments, merchantincentive preferences may be communicated, for example, from a merchantcomputing system 122 to an incentive selection module 110 as describedwith reference to FIG. 1.

According to some embodiments, current incentive(s) description 404includes details of what incentives are offered by a merchant or groupof merchants, how long they are offered, which characteristics ofconsumers, if any, are required in order to make the offer, and anyother appropriate descriptive incentive details as one having ordinaryskill in the art would recognize.

Incentive expiration information 406 of merchant incentive preferences402 may include information including one or more expiration datesassociated with available incentives or incentive descriptions 404. “Maxincentives per time period” 412 of merchant incentive preferences 402may define, according to some embodiments, the maximum number ofincentives available to an individual consumer or group of consumerswithin a defined period of time. According to some embodiments, maxincentives per time period 412 may define the maximum number ofincentives associated with a particular merchant or group of merchantsthat may be made available to any party during a defined period of time.

Incentive gifting availability 408 of merchant incentive preferences 402may include, according to some embodiments, information related towhether, how often, and how many times various incentives may be giftedfrom the original earner to third parties. For example, as describedelsewhere herein and according to some embodiments, after the incentivehas been fulfilled or delivered to a digital wallet of a consumer, theconsumer may be presented with an option to gift the same or similarincentive to a third party, or to split a gift incentive among multipleparties. According to some embodiments, “max gifting of incentive” 410may define, with regard to one or more incentives, a maximum number oftimes an incentive may be gifted during a defined period of time, duringthe life of the incentive, during the life of the consumer or merchant,or any other appropriate restriction as would be apparent to one havingordinary skill in the art.

According to some embodiments, alert preferences 414 may define the typeand frequency of notifications provided to consumers and/or merchantsregarding incentive status or earning.

FIG. 5 illustrates example consumer device application screens accordingto some embodiments of the present invention. All aspects of theinterface and content presented here are merely exemplary and shall not,for example, be understood to limit the disclosure to any particularuser interface configuration.

Screen 502 shows an exemplary payment interface on a user device, forexample user device 128 as described with reference to FIG. 1. At screen502, a user is presented with options to complete payment associatedwith a purchase. According to some embodiments, this payment screen maybe a digital wallet application itself or linked to a digital wallet ofthe user.

After payment is completed, according to some embodiments, the user ispresented with screen 504. Interface 508 presents, as an example, asurvey question in the simple and familiar “star rating” format. Thecommonly used “star rating” format is merely exemplary, and numerousother simple rating systems are available, as would be apparent to onehaving ordinary skill in the art. Field 510 according to someembodiments allows the user to type a message to the retailer ifdesired.

According to some embodiments, selection 512 of screen 504 allows theuser to specify that the user would like to be contacted by themerchant, for example in the event the user has a complaint or praise toshare regarding the goods or services of the merchant or serviceprovider.

At location 514 of screen 504, according to some embodiments, anincentive is presented to the user to entice the user to complete thesurvey question 508. According to some embodiments, submit button 516allows the user to choose to claim the incentive offered at location 514of screen 504.

After completion of the survey question 508 of screen 504 and claimingthe incentive offered at location 514 of screen 504, the user ispresented, according to some embodiments, with screen 506 or similarInterface location 518 displays, according to the exemplary embodiment,the results of the consumer or user's response to survey question 508.

At location 520 of screen 506, the user is presented, according to someembodiments, with an offer to gift an incentive to one or more thirdparties. According to some embodiments, field 522 of screen 506 allowsthe user to enter identification information of one or more thirdparties to receive a gifted incentive. For example, a user may enterinto field 522 one or more e-mail addresses, digital wallet IDs, phonenumbers, messenger application IDs, biometric information, encryption orother keys, or other appropriate identification information as would beapparent to one having ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example display of an incentive reward appearingin a digital wallet interface. According to some embodiments, screen 602may represent a digital wallet application or another clientapplication, for example client application 130 of user device 128 asdescribed with reference to FIG. 1.

Identifier 604 of screen 602, according to some embodiments, identifiesthe particular digital wallet or other payment platform in present use.At field 606 in the exemplary embodiment, a user is presented withcredit card information related to the digital wallet and/or a recenttransaction or transactions.

At location 608 of screen 602, an incentive reward is shown as beingavailable in the digital wallet 604. According to some embodiments, andas discussed in further detail herein, an incentive reward may betransmitted to or enabled directly in a consumer's digital wallet inresponse to the consumer completing one or more prerequisites to earningthe incentive—for example by transacting business with and completing asurvey question from an incentivizing merchant.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example display of an electronically generatedsocial media post. According to some embodiments, screen 702 mayrepresent a social media post automatically generated on behalf of auser, for example by a consumer feedback incentivizing service 102 asdescribed with reference to FIG. 1.

Identifier 704 of screen 702, according to some embodiments, identifiesthe particular social media platform in present use. Example profileinformation 706 of screen 702 shows an identity of the member of socialmedia platform 704 who will make the social media posting.

According to some embodiments, social media post 708 includes a messageautomatically generated on behalf of the social media user. Controls 710of screen 702, according to some embodiments, provide additionalcontrols related to social media posting. According to some embodiments,field 712 of exemplary screen 702 allows the social media user to addadditional comments to the social media posting, if desired.

FIG. 8 represents a flowchart 800 for a method of receiving real-timeconsumer transactional feedback. According to some embodiments, some orall of the steps of flowchart 800 may be carried out by a system likesystem 100 as described with reference to FIG. 1.

At step 802, a consumer is selected to provide feedback related to oneor more transactions conducted by the consumer. According to someembodiments, the consumer may be selected based on matchingcharacteristics of a desired consumer profile provided by a merchant. Insome embodiments, a consumer may be selected at least in part on thebasis of the consumer having transacted business with a particularmerchant's or set of merchants that have requested that all of thatmerchant or set of merchant's customers be surveyed.

At step 804, a survey is generated for the consumer, the surveycomprising one or more questions related to the one or transactionsassociated with the consumer. As just a few examples, a survey questionmay simply ask for a general level of satisfaction with the merchant'sservices, with the merchant's product offering, or with the transactiongenerally.

At step 806, an incentive offer is selected. According to someembodiments, the incentive offer may be selected from an incentivedatabase, for example because the consumer or transaction matchescharacteristics of a desired consumer profile provided by a merchant.

At step 808, according to some embodiments, information related to thesurvey and the incentive offer is transmitted to the user or the user'sdevice. In a typical embodiment, the survey and incentive offer may bepresented to the consumer on the consumer's device (e.g., smartphone)via a touch user interface (step 810).

At step 812, a response to the survey is received from the user orconsumer. For example, in a typical implementation, a consumer would usea touch screen of the consumer's device to complete the survey.

At step 814, in response to receiving the survey response (according tosome embodiments, a prerequisite for obtaining the incentive), theincentive is fulfilled. For example, the incentive information may betransmitted to the consumer's device or directly to the consumer's smartwallet.

FIG. 9 represents a flowchart of another method of receiving real-timeconsumer transactional feedback according to some embodiments of thisdisclosure. According to some embodiments, some or all of the steps offlowchart 900 may be carried out by a system like system 100 asdescribed with reference to FIG. 1.

At step 902, a notification is received of a transaction associated witha digital wallet. The particular digital wallet may, according to someembodiments, be associated with a consumer who has conducted businesswith a merchant.

At step 904, an incentive offer is selected from an incentive offerdatabase. As described elsewhere herein, an incentive offer may beselected based on various combinations of preferences of a merchant,preferences of the consumer associated with the digital wallet, spendinghabits, and other consumer or merchant profile information.

At step 906, a customer satisfaction survey is sent to a wireless deviceof the consumer associated with the digital wallet. According to someembodiments, the satisfaction survey may include a simple star ratingfor the digital wallet transaction. The incentive offer of step 904,according to some embodiments, is intended to incentivize a response bythe consumer to the customer satisfaction survey.

At exemplary step 908, the incentive offer is transmitted to a wirelessdevice of the consumer associated with the digital wallet. The incentiveoffer may typically be displayed via a touch screen user interface ofthe wireless device of the consumer associated with the digital wallet.

At step 910, at least one response to the customer satisfaction surveyis received. In the exemplary case of a transaction star rating, thisstep indicates that the consumer associated with the digital wallet hasrated the transaction.

At step 912, the incentive reward is credited directly into the digitalwallet. For example, if the incentive reward is a free muffin, theincentive reward may be displayed in the digital wallet user interfacein a similar manner as location 608 of screen 602 as described withreference to FIG. 6.

FIG. 10 represents a flowchart of a method for delivering an incentiveto a digital wallet and allowing a consumer to gift an incentive offerto a third party, according to various embodiments of this disclosure.According to some embodiments, some or all of flowchart 1000 may beperformed by a system similar to system 100 as described with referenceto FIG. 1.

At step 1002, a first incentive is delivered to a digital wallet of aconsumer. For example, an incentive reward corresponding to a particularmerchant may be delivered as explained in detail herein.

At step 1004, an offer to allow gifting of a second incentive from theconsumer is made to one or more third parties. In some embodiments, thesecond incentive may be a duplicate of the original incentive reward ofstep 1002. According to some embodiments, the gifting offer may bedisplayed at a user interface of a wireless device associated with theconsumer.

At step 1006, identification information related to the one or morethird parties to receive a gifted incentive is received. Theidentification information may include, for example, any of an emailaddress, digital wallet ID, or other appropriate identificationinformation as would be apparent to one having ordinary skill in theart.

At step 1008, according to some embodiments, the one or more giftedincentive offers are delivered to the one or more identified third-partyrecipients using the identification information obtained at step 1006.

At optional step 1010, according to some embodiments, an offer istransmitted to the consumer to generate a social media post on theconsumer's behalf. According to some embodiments, the offer may bepresented at a user interface of a wireless device associated with theconsumer.

None of the description in this application should be read as implyingthat any particular element, step, or function is an essential elementthat must be included in the claim scope. The scope of patented subjectmatter is defined only by the claims. Moreover, none of the claims isintended to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) unless the exact words “means for”are followed by a participle.

1-21. (canceled)
 22. A consumer feedback incentive system comprising:one or more hardware processors configured by machine-readableinstructions to: provide a first interface for presentation on one morecomputing devices each associated with one or more consumers, whereinthe first interface is associated with one or more digital wallets eachassociated with the one or more consumers and comprises an option tocomplete a payment associated with a purchase; responsive to completion,using the first interface, of the payment associated with the purchase,provide a second interface for presentation on the one or more computingdevices, wherein the second interface comprises a survey associated withthe purchase and one or more incentive offers, and the survey ispresented in a first portion of the second interface along with the oneor more incentive offers in a second portion of the second interface;receive, from the one or more computing devices each associated with theone or more consumers, real-time survey feedback data and an indicationthat the one or more consumers claimed the one or more incentive;responsive to receiving the real-time survey feedback data and theindication that the one or more consumers claimed the one or moreincentive offer, deliver at least one of the one or more incentiveoffers by authorizing at least one incentive reward to the one or moredigital wallets; and provide a merchant analytics platform to a merchantassociated with the one or more incentive offers, the merchant analyticsplatform comprising a user interface, wherein the user interface of themerchant analytics platform comprises a plurality of analytics displaysections, the plurality of analytics display sections configured todisplay one or more representations associated with the real-time surveyfeedback.
 23. The system of claim 22, further comprising: responsive tothe one or more consumers completing the survey and claiming the one ormore incentive offers presented in the second interface, provide a thirdinterface for presentation on the one or more computing devices, whereinthe third interface comprises an option to enter identificationinformation of the one or more consumers or one or more other consumersto which to gift the incentive reward.
 23. The system of claim 22,wherein the merchant analytics platform is further configured to receiveinput from the merchant indicating one or more attributes of consumersto which the merchant desires that incentive offers be made.
 24. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein the merchant analytics platform is furtherconfigured to receive input from the merchant, such input defining atleast one of the one or more incentive offers.
 25. The system of claim22, wherein the merchant analytics platform is configured to display oneor more estimates of added value provided to the merchant as a result ofthe merchant using the system.
 26. The system of claim 22, wherein atleast one of the plurality of analytics display sections is configurableby the merchant.
 27. The system of claim 26, wherein the at least one ofthe plurality of analytics display sections is configurable according toat least one of a group consisting of a physical size on the userinterface of the at least one of the plurality of analytics displaysections, a location on the user interface of the at least one of theplurality of analytics display sections, and content in the at least oneof the plurality of analytics display sections.
 28. The system of claim22, wherein the user interface is displayed on a mobile application of amobile device associated with the merchant.
 29. The system of claim 22,wherein the user interface is displayed in a web browser.
 30. The systemof claim 22, wherein the one or more representations associated with thereal-time survey feedback comprise at least one selected from: customercomments, customer demographics, customer psychographics, merchantrating data, at least one estimate of the number of consumers gained asa result of the merchant using the system, at least one estimate of thevalue of consumers gained as a result of the merchant using the system,an accounting of the value of incentives delivered by the system on themerchant's behalf, and data associated with one or more rates of successassociated with at least one of the one or more incentive offers. 31.The system of claim 22, wherein at least a portion of the user interfacedisplays one or more representations associated with the merchant'sperformance compared to one or more competitors of the merchant.
 32. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein at least a portion of the user interfacedisplays one or more representations associated with the merchant'sperformance compared to one or more other stores, including franchises,of the merchant.
 33. A method of operating a consumer feedback incentivesystem, the method comprising: providing a first interface forpresentation on one more computing devices each associated with one ormore consumers, wherein the first interface is associated with one ormore digital wallets each associated with the one or more consumers andcomprises an option to complete a payment associated with a purchase;responsive to completion, using the first interface, of the paymentassociated with the purchase, providing a second interface forpresentation on the one or more computing devices, wherein the secondinterface comprises a survey associated with the purchase and one ormore incentive offers, and the survey is presented in a first portion ofthe second interface along with the one or more incentive offers in asecond portion of the second interface; receiving, from the one or morecomputing devices each associated with the one or more consumers,real-time survey feedback data and an indication that the one or moreconsumers claimed the one or more incentive offers; responsive toreceiving the real-time survey feedback data and the indication that theone or more consumers claimed the one or more incentive offer,delivering at least one of the one or more incentive offers byauthorizing at least one incentive reward to the one or more digitalwallets; and providing a merchant analytics platform to a merchantassociated with the one or more incentive offers, the merchant analyticsplatform comprising a user interface, wherein the user interface of themerchant analytics platform comprises a plurality of analytics displaysections, the plurality of analytics display sections configured todisplay one or more representations associated with the real-time surveyfeedback.
 34. The method of claim 33, further comprising: responsive tothe one or more consumers completing the survey and claiming the one ormore incentive offers presented in the second interface, providing athird interface for presentation on the one or more computing devices,wherein the third interface comprises an option to enter identificationinformation of the one or more consumers or one or more other consumersto which to gift the incentive reward.
 35. The method of claim 33,wherein the merchant analytics platform is further configured to receiveinput from the merchant, such input indicating one or more attributes ofconsumers to which the merchant desires that incentive offers be made.36. The method of claim 33, wherein the merchant analytics platform isfurther configured to receive input from the merchant defining at leastone of the one or more incentive offers.
 37. The method of claim 33,wherein at least a portion of the user interface displays, in graphicalform, at least one of the one or more representations associated withthe real-time survey feedback.
 38. The method of claim 33, wherein atleast a portion of the user interface displays one or morerepresentations associated with the merchant's performance compared toone or more competitors of the merchant.
 39. A non-transientcomputer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, theinstructions being executable by one or more processors to perform amethod for operating a consumer feedback incentive system, the methodcomprising: providing a first interface for presentation on one morecomputing devices each associated with one or more consumers, whereinthe first interface is associated with one or more digital wallets eachassociated with the one or more consumers and comprises an option tocomplete a payment associated with a purchase; responsive to completion,using the first interface, of the payment associated with the purchase,providing a second interface for presentation on the one or morecomputing devices, wherein the second interface comprises a surveyassociated with the purchase and one or more incentive offers, and thesurvey is presented in a first portion of the second interface alongwith the one or more incentive offers in a second portion of the secondinterface; receiving, from the one or more computing devices eachassociated with the one or more consumers, real-time survey feedbackdata and an indication that the one or more consumers claimed the one ormore incentive; responsive to receiving the real-time survey feedbackdata and the indication that the one or more consumers claimed the oneor more incentive offer, delivering at least one of the one or moreincentive offers by authorizing at least one incentive reward to the oneor more digital wallets; and providing a merchant analytics platform toa merchant associated with the one or more incentive offers, themerchant analytics platform comprising a user interface, wherein theuser interface of the merchant analytics platform comprises a pluralityof analytics display sections, the plurality of analytics displaysections configured to display one or more representations associatedwith the real-time survey feedback.
 40. The non-transientcomputer-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein the merchantanalytics platform is further configured to receive input from themerchant, such input indicating one or more attributes of consumers towhich the merchant desires that incentive offers be made.
 41. Thenon-transient computer-readable storage medium of claim 39, wherein themerchant analytics platform is further configured to receive input fromthe merchant defining at least one of the one or more incentive offers.